primary school

The COVID-19 pandemic increased the awareness and importance of infectious pathogens as contaminant in the indoor air, especially for non-residential buildings with a high occupational density like schools. During the COVID-19 pandemic air cleaning is often proposed as mitigation strategy for infectious risk in these types of buildings. However, indoor air quality (IAQ) in general comprises of a large range of possible contaminants and factors that can equally impact the health, comfort and well-being of occupants.

Ninety per cent of New Zealand classrooms are naturally ventilated by opening windows. Achieving a suitable ventilation level will rely on teachers. A survey showed that less than half of the teachers opened windows during teaching time. Due to the high occupant density in classrooms and a low natural ventilation rate, it is challenging to provide adequate ventilation during the southern hemisphere winter months (June to September). From 9 am to 3 pm, school hours align well with the optimum solar radiation, providing opportunities for solar ventilation.

Mitigating the risk of overheating and associated thermal discomfort inside school classrooms is a global concern due to its significant impacts on students’ academic performance, health and wellbeing. Thus, rising ambient temperatures resulting from climate change can be challenging, especially in low energy schools designed to optimise their heating season performance. According to recent studies, many low energy school buildings fail to meet comfort standards and experience overheating, resulting in low student productivity and the need for using air conditioning systems.

The environmental conditions experienced in UK schools not only influence the effectiveness of teaching and learning but also affect energy consumption and occupant behaviour plays a critical role in determining such conditions.

This paper presents the first results of a field study on thermal comfort in school buildings that is been carried out in Chile, with the aim of determining comfort temperature of students in state-owned primary schools.  The paper presents the results of four schools located in Santiago, a city with low temperatures in winter and high temperatures in summer, which are typically free-running, as they have neither a heating nor a cooling system.